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Life as We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life
A revealing exploration of the latest NASA research into the possibility of extraterrestrial life also poses a hypothesis about the origins of life on Earth, examining the controversial idea of creating non-DNA life in a laboratory as well as the scientific possibilities of the range of life throughout the universe. By the author of Gorgon. 35,000 first prinitng.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2005
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227 people want to read
About the author
Peter D. Ward
29 books104 followersPeter Douglas Ward is an American paleontologist and professor of Biology and of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has written popular numerous science works for a general audience and is also an adviser to the Microbes Mind Forum.
His parents, Joseph and Ruth Ward, moved to Seattle following World War II. Ward grew up in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, attending Franklin High School, and he spent time during summers at a family summer cabin on Orcas Island.
Ward's academic career has included teaching posts and professional connections with Ohio State University, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the University of California, McMaster University (where he received his PhD in 1976), and the California Institute of Technology. He was elected as a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences in 1984.
Ward specializes in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the Permian–Triassic extinction event, and mass extinctions generally. He has published books on biodiversity and the fossil record. His 1992 book On Methuselah's Trail received a Golden Trilobite Award from the Paleontological Society as the best popular science book of the year. Ward also serves as an adjunct professor of zoology and astronomy.
His book The End of Evolution was published in 1994. In it, he discussed in three parts, each about an extinction event on earth.
Ward is co-author, along with astronomer Donald Brownlee, of the best-selling Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe, published in 2000. In that work, the authors suggest that the universe is fundamentally hostile to advanced life, and that, while simple life might be abundant, the likelihood of widespread lifeforms as advanced as those on Earth is marginal. In 2001, his book Future Evolution was published, featuring illustrations by artist Alexis Rockman.
Ward and Brownlee are also co-authors of the book The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of the World, which discusses the Earth's future and eventual demise as it is ultimately destroyed by a warming and expanding Sun.
According to Ward's 2007 book, Under a Green Sky, all but one of the major mass extinction events in history have been brought on by climate change—the same global warming that occurs today. The author argues that events in the past can give valuable information about the future of our planet. Reviewer Doug Brown goes further, stating "this is how the world ends." Scientists at the Universities of York and Leeds also warn that the fossil record supports evidence of impending mass extinction.
His parents, Joseph and Ruth Ward, moved to Seattle following World War II. Ward grew up in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, attending Franklin High School, and he spent time during summers at a family summer cabin on Orcas Island.
Ward's academic career has included teaching posts and professional connections with Ohio State University, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the University of California, McMaster University (where he received his PhD in 1976), and the California Institute of Technology. He was elected as a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences in 1984.
Ward specializes in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the Permian–Triassic extinction event, and mass extinctions generally. He has published books on biodiversity and the fossil record. His 1992 book On Methuselah's Trail received a Golden Trilobite Award from the Paleontological Society as the best popular science book of the year. Ward also serves as an adjunct professor of zoology and astronomy.
His book The End of Evolution was published in 1994. In it, he discussed in three parts, each about an extinction event on earth.
Ward is co-author, along with astronomer Donald Brownlee, of the best-selling Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe, published in 2000. In that work, the authors suggest that the universe is fundamentally hostile to advanced life, and that, while simple life might be abundant, the likelihood of widespread lifeforms as advanced as those on Earth is marginal. In 2001, his book Future Evolution was published, featuring illustrations by artist Alexis Rockman.
Ward and Brownlee are also co-authors of the book The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of the World, which discusses the Earth's future and eventual demise as it is ultimately destroyed by a warming and expanding Sun.
According to Ward's 2007 book, Under a Green Sky, all but one of the major mass extinction events in history have been brought on by climate change—the same global warming that occurs today. The author argues that events in the past can give valuable information about the future of our planet. Reviewer Doug Brown goes further, stating "this is how the world ends." Scientists at the Universities of York and Leeds also warn that the fossil record supports evidence of impending mass extinction.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 2, 2019
Controversial and worthwhile but somewhat quixotic
Two of the three deep questions about life, "What is life and how should it be defined?" are addressed in this book along with "Where might life be found?" Peter Ward and his colleague Don Brownlee addressed the third deep question, "Does life tend to evolve into intelligent life?" in their controversial book Rare Earth and came to the unpopular conclusion that intelligent life is very rare, and that overwhelmingly the vast preponderance of life in the universe is microbial. Here Ward concentrates on the possibility of microbial life in the solar system.
Let's look at Professor Ward's goals in writing this book as presented in the preface. His first goal is "to bring the public up to date on the progress in...astrobiology..."
Understandably Ward does not venture beyond the friendly (or not so friendly) confines of the solar system. Influenced as we all are by the recent discoveries of extremophiles in unlikely places on earth, Ward waxes hopeful about the possibility of microbial life under the surface of Mars, is less enthusiastic about life in the ocean under the ice cap of Europa, is pessimistic about life in the Venusian atmosphere, and is almost wildly excited about the possibility of life on the far-off Saturn moon, Titan, where he believes life could be especially exotic.
Interestingly enough Ward thinks there is alien life on earth yet to be discovered, possibly descendants of ancient RNA life. He classifies viruses as being alive and concludes, somewhat whimsically, that alien life does exist on earth since viruses are not included in the family tree of life as defined by most biologists. (One notes in passing that Richard Dawkins's recent tome The Ancestor's Tale does not include any viruses.)
I was uplifted and mostly convinced from Ward's analysis that life does indeed exist on Mars. (Yes!) Ward claims that some scientists now consider it a given, and he even hints darkly that NASA knows this (p. 189) but is keeping mum until they can present a stronger case to the public.
His second goal is "to redefine...life...." Here I am confident that other scientists will find both his grasp and reach exceeded, but I suspect his attempt to reclassify the tree of life will be a harbinger of reclassifications to come. It is here that he is at his most quixotic.
His third goal is "a rational look at what alien life might be like." He looks at life based on something other than DNA and the familiar twenty amino acids. He looks at silicone life. He looks at how life might have originated, going from "warm ponds" to clay substrates to hydrothermal vents to artificially created life.
This leads him to his fourth goal which is to speculate on how likely it is that life could arise and exist in the extreme environments elsewhere in the solar system based on the latest information. I found this part of the book intriguing and optimistic.
Ward urges us to send manned missions to both Mars and Titan because he believes that only space boots on the ground and instruments in gloved hands can best find the aliens he believes live there. Ward also makes the excellent point that only on the relatively unchanging surfaces of the moon and Mars we are likely to find evidence of early life on earth! This is because chunks of our planet flew into space and landed on the moon and Mars from a time not preserved in the geological record on earth because of weathering, etc. He even suggests that fossils of microbial life could exist in earth rocks on the moon and Mars.
There are some minuses in this book. It is not as well written or edited as his previous works. Sometimes it is the case that once a writer becomes as successful as Ward has become, editors are afraid to actually edit, and the writer himself does not read the proofs as carefully as he might. Too bad.
Another minus is his confused expression about the allocation of public funds for SETI as opposed to funds for exploring the solar system. I think Ward ought to say unequivocally that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and the exploration of the solar system are both worthy projects that ought to receive strong support from the public. On pages 238-239 Ward actually makes fun of how humanity would benefit from a signal from intelligent extraterrestrial life. What he fails to appreciate is the deep philosophic and religious implications of such a signal. He also fails to realize that even though it may take anywhere from nine to fifty to a hundred years or more, depending on where the signal is coming from, for a stream of information to flow our way, that is still a wondrous prospect for humanity. Ward seems blithely unaware that contact of any kind from an extraterrestrial civilization would be one of the greatest events in human history. His conclusion that after such a signal we would discover that "nothing has changed" is...well, I hate to use the word "stupid" but in this case I think it really does apply.
I also didn't care for Ward's little story (pp. 236-237) about trying to give a copy of his book Rare Earth to Microsoft billionaire John Allen only to be embarrassed by SETI scientist Jill Tartar's understandable reaction. Nor did I like his making fun of Carl Sagan's now obviously unwarranted enthusiasm for macroscopic Martian life (pp. 176-179) and his later obsequious praise of the popular scientist (e.g., p. 233).
This is one of those books--Ward's 13th--that historians love because it unintentionally reveals so much about its author and his times. It's a bit breezy, a bit arrogant, and a bit quixotic, but this somewhat brazen report from the infancy of astrobiology is nonetheless an interesting and worthwhile effort.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Two of the three deep questions about life, "What is life and how should it be defined?" are addressed in this book along with "Where might life be found?" Peter Ward and his colleague Don Brownlee addressed the third deep question, "Does life tend to evolve into intelligent life?" in their controversial book Rare Earth and came to the unpopular conclusion that intelligent life is very rare, and that overwhelmingly the vast preponderance of life in the universe is microbial. Here Ward concentrates on the possibility of microbial life in the solar system.
Let's look at Professor Ward's goals in writing this book as presented in the preface. His first goal is "to bring the public up to date on the progress in...astrobiology..."
Understandably Ward does not venture beyond the friendly (or not so friendly) confines of the solar system. Influenced as we all are by the recent discoveries of extremophiles in unlikely places on earth, Ward waxes hopeful about the possibility of microbial life under the surface of Mars, is less enthusiastic about life in the ocean under the ice cap of Europa, is pessimistic about life in the Venusian atmosphere, and is almost wildly excited about the possibility of life on the far-off Saturn moon, Titan, where he believes life could be especially exotic.
Interestingly enough Ward thinks there is alien life on earth yet to be discovered, possibly descendants of ancient RNA life. He classifies viruses as being alive and concludes, somewhat whimsically, that alien life does exist on earth since viruses are not included in the family tree of life as defined by most biologists. (One notes in passing that Richard Dawkins's recent tome The Ancestor's Tale does not include any viruses.)
I was uplifted and mostly convinced from Ward's analysis that life does indeed exist on Mars. (Yes!) Ward claims that some scientists now consider it a given, and he even hints darkly that NASA knows this (p. 189) but is keeping mum until they can present a stronger case to the public.
His second goal is "to redefine...life...." Here I am confident that other scientists will find both his grasp and reach exceeded, but I suspect his attempt to reclassify the tree of life will be a harbinger of reclassifications to come. It is here that he is at his most quixotic.
His third goal is "a rational look at what alien life might be like." He looks at life based on something other than DNA and the familiar twenty amino acids. He looks at silicone life. He looks at how life might have originated, going from "warm ponds" to clay substrates to hydrothermal vents to artificially created life.
This leads him to his fourth goal which is to speculate on how likely it is that life could arise and exist in the extreme environments elsewhere in the solar system based on the latest information. I found this part of the book intriguing and optimistic.
Ward urges us to send manned missions to both Mars and Titan because he believes that only space boots on the ground and instruments in gloved hands can best find the aliens he believes live there. Ward also makes the excellent point that only on the relatively unchanging surfaces of the moon and Mars we are likely to find evidence of early life on earth! This is because chunks of our planet flew into space and landed on the moon and Mars from a time not preserved in the geological record on earth because of weathering, etc. He even suggests that fossils of microbial life could exist in earth rocks on the moon and Mars.
There are some minuses in this book. It is not as well written or edited as his previous works. Sometimes it is the case that once a writer becomes as successful as Ward has become, editors are afraid to actually edit, and the writer himself does not read the proofs as carefully as he might. Too bad.
Another minus is his confused expression about the allocation of public funds for SETI as opposed to funds for exploring the solar system. I think Ward ought to say unequivocally that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and the exploration of the solar system are both worthy projects that ought to receive strong support from the public. On pages 238-239 Ward actually makes fun of how humanity would benefit from a signal from intelligent extraterrestrial life. What he fails to appreciate is the deep philosophic and religious implications of such a signal. He also fails to realize that even though it may take anywhere from nine to fifty to a hundred years or more, depending on where the signal is coming from, for a stream of information to flow our way, that is still a wondrous prospect for humanity. Ward seems blithely unaware that contact of any kind from an extraterrestrial civilization would be one of the greatest events in human history. His conclusion that after such a signal we would discover that "nothing has changed" is...well, I hate to use the word "stupid" but in this case I think it really does apply.
I also didn't care for Ward's little story (pp. 236-237) about trying to give a copy of his book Rare Earth to Microsoft billionaire John Allen only to be embarrassed by SETI scientist Jill Tartar's understandable reaction. Nor did I like his making fun of Carl Sagan's now obviously unwarranted enthusiasm for macroscopic Martian life (pp. 176-179) and his later obsequious praise of the popular scientist (e.g., p. 233).
This is one of those books--Ward's 13th--that historians love because it unintentionally reveals so much about its author and his times. It's a bit breezy, a bit arrogant, and a bit quixotic, but this somewhat brazen report from the infancy of astrobiology is nonetheless an interesting and worthwhile effort.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
February 21, 2016
Although a somewhat dated (a decade has passed) look at the field of Astrobiology, Ward does a great job giving a general overview of the definition of life and how varied and vast organisms on Earth can be a model for life elsewhere in the Universe. Ward is the lead Astrobiologist at the University of Washington in Seattle with varied roles in the Depts of Biology, Earth Sciences, and Paleontology (which Astrobiology represents). Probably the most engaging part of the book is the section on non-RNA/DNA potential life forms that may have formed from various environments such as acid life, ammonia life, silicon life and silicon/clay life. Given these possibilities combined with the bacteria recently found on Earth in extreme environments, the potential for life on Mars, Venus' clouds, Europa and Titan is much higher than previously thought.
It should be noted that a significant number of discoveries have happened since the book was authored in 2005 - additional exoplanet discoveries, Mars Science Laboratory, New Horizons to Pluto, coldest growing bacteria, arsenic resistant bacteria, etc. Additionally, Ward's view on SETI was not overly positive then (I don't know where he stands today in 2016).
It should be noted that a significant number of discoveries have happened since the book was authored in 2005 - additional exoplanet discoveries, Mars Science Laboratory, New Horizons to Pluto, coldest growing bacteria, arsenic resistant bacteria, etc. Additionally, Ward's view on SETI was not overly positive then (I don't know where he stands today in 2016).
October 31, 2018
Fascinating. Ward is, as usual, very provocative, but certainly makes you reexamine everything you ever thought you knew about the definition of 'life.' The SETI folks have always seemed remarkably naive about this to me. The whales and elephants and dolphins all have brains bigger than ours, and may be shockingly intelligent too, but we don't really communicate with them successfully. I don't know why we think 'intelligent' aliens will be any different. Ward's other truly fascinating book is Rare Earth; which I enthusiastically recommend. You don't have to be a religious nutcase to think we may be either 1) alone in the universe, or 2) so far away from similar beings that we might as well be alone. You will like this, but the science is a little demanding.
September 9, 2016
Peter Wardin kirja on mielenkiintoinen katsaus elämän peruskomponentteihin sekä niiden esiintymiseen aurinkokunnassamme. Kirjassa käydään läpi erilaisia ympäristöjä, joissa maassa elävät organismit pystyisivät toimimaan tai ainakin säilymään. Kirja on kuitenkin jo kymmenen vuoden ikäinen, mikä näkyy esimerkiksi eksoplaneettojen käsittelyssä. Molekyylibiologia ei ole itselläni erityisen hyvin hallussa, mutta silläkin sektorilla on todennäköisesti tehty uusia löytöjä kirjan julkaisemisen jälkeen.
Wardin edellinen julkaistu kirja oli kohua herättänyt Rare Earth (2000), jossa hän Dan Brownleen kanssa totesi, että vaikka mahdollisuuksia elämän syntyy on paljon, vain Maassa on todennäköisesti ollut tarpeeksi vakaa ympäristö suurempien eliömuotojen syntyyn. Tässäkin kirjassa Wardin peruslähtökohta on, että muilta aurinkokunnan kohteilta voisi löytyä lähinnä alkeiselämää (arkkieliöitä) tai fossiileja. Hän myös kummallisesti asettaa rahoituksellisesti vastakkain SETIn elämän etsinnän ja Maan biosfäärin tutkimuksen, ja toteaa, että elämän etsinnän sijasta mielenkiinto tulisi tässä kohtaa suunnata oman planeettamme elämän ylläpitoon.
Jos aurinkokuntamme kappaleiden (Venus, Mars, Europa, Titan) tutkimus ja elinkelpoisuus kiinnostaa, kirja on kiehtovaa luettavaa. Teoksessa käydään läpi planeettojen ja kuiden koostumusta, pintakerroksia, ympäristötekijöitä ja joissakin tapauksissa myös ilmakehää, ja pohditaan erilaisia elämänmuotoja jotka voisivat kyseisissä olosuhteissa selvitä. Itselleni kirja tarjosi hyvän alustuksen aiheeseen sekä paljon pohdittavaa, mutta haluaisin tähän rinnalle myös toisen, hieman uudempaa tutkimustietoa hyödyntävän teoksen samasta aiheesta.
Wardin edellinen julkaistu kirja oli kohua herättänyt Rare Earth (2000), jossa hän Dan Brownleen kanssa totesi, että vaikka mahdollisuuksia elämän syntyy on paljon, vain Maassa on todennäköisesti ollut tarpeeksi vakaa ympäristö suurempien eliömuotojen syntyyn. Tässäkin kirjassa Wardin peruslähtökohta on, että muilta aurinkokunnan kohteilta voisi löytyä lähinnä alkeiselämää (arkkieliöitä) tai fossiileja. Hän myös kummallisesti asettaa rahoituksellisesti vastakkain SETIn elämän etsinnän ja Maan biosfäärin tutkimuksen, ja toteaa, että elämän etsinnän sijasta mielenkiinto tulisi tässä kohtaa suunnata oman planeettamme elämän ylläpitoon.
Jos aurinkokuntamme kappaleiden (Venus, Mars, Europa, Titan) tutkimus ja elinkelpoisuus kiinnostaa, kirja on kiehtovaa luettavaa. Teoksessa käydään läpi planeettojen ja kuiden koostumusta, pintakerroksia, ympäristötekijöitä ja joissakin tapauksissa myös ilmakehää, ja pohditaan erilaisia elämänmuotoja jotka voisivat kyseisissä olosuhteissa selvitä. Itselleni kirja tarjosi hyvän alustuksen aiheeseen sekä paljon pohdittavaa, mutta haluaisin tähän rinnalle myös toisen, hieman uudempaa tutkimustietoa hyödyntävän teoksen samasta aiheesta.
December 24, 2010
Speculations on the origin of life, possible life predating and coexisting with the last common ancestor of our familiar bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes, and possible past and present life on Mars, Venus, Europa, Triton, and Titan. Peter Ward is a paleontologist specializing in the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event and mass extinctions in general, so I don't know what to make of his microbiological hypotheses. He thinks that DNA viruses are degenerate cells, and RNA viruses are a remnant of past RNA-based life. There have been several biological discoveries in the last few years that are relevant to astrobiology, which the book does not mention, such as the virus Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus, which can be considered a new domain of life, or the fungus that grows on the walls of the ruins of the Chernobyl reactor that uses melanin to convert radiation to chemical energy, or the bacteria in a South African mine that make use of the radioactivity of uranium ore. Ward also wants to send a paleontologist on a one-way trip to Mars, and a biochemist on a one-way trip to Titan: "Scores of terrorists blow themselves up yearly. Surely we can ask the same sacrifice for a better cause from our scientists, especially the older ones."
October 2, 2015
This book is terribly in need of an editor. I realize that this will probably never happen -- the book is a decade old, which means that many of its arguments and speculations have been eclipsed by new data. But there are interesting ideas presented within its pages, and some sections provide good overviews of biology, planetary geology, and potential alternative biochemistries.
The problem, though, is that the book is also almost unreadable. Its chapter structure is poorly thought out, which makes it difficult to follow the book's thesis, as Ward's train of thought jumps from topic to topic, often circling around repetitively to make the same points over and over again. Certain sections suffer from the convoluted style of a first or second draft -- prose that has clearly been written by someone thoughtful and intelligent, but which has never seen a second set of eyes. Spelling errors, repeated words and twisted grammar abound. These are all things that should have been addressed by a good editor. Without one, though, this book's argument and effectiveness are lost.
August 31, 2016
This informational text takes a scientific look at the definition of life on Earth and the possibility for extraterrestrial life beyond our planet. Ward presents a new hypothesis about the origins of life on Earth and proposes a new classification level above the level of domain. As a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, Ward provides some interesting background on the most promising places to find life in our solar system.
June 6, 2016
Peter Ward kertaa astrobiologian historiaa ja vuoden 2004 nykytilannetta ja luonnostelee tulevaisuutta (paleontologi marsiin ja biokemisti Titaniin jne.) Aivan mahtavan koukuttava ja mieltäylentävä kirja. Piti heti tilata Wardin uusin kirja A New History of Life: The radical new discoveries about the origins and evolution of life on Earth että pääsee jatkamaan aiheen parissa ja tuoreimmilla tiedoilla.
September 16, 2013
The book was very interesting, and has given me some ideas for teaching. However, I'm not sure I'd recommend it to any of my students. There were parts of the book that seemed poorly edited, with sentences that just didn't make sense. It's also nearly 10 years old now, so some of the information (about exoplanets, for example) is out of date.
December 30, 2013
A really intriguing look at the search for life here on earth as well as in the stars. Ward presents some compelling arguments for destinations and processes. Additionally, he tackles the topic of artificially created life here on earth and the ethical implications. Ward also argues, somewhat convincingly, that our current tree of life might be better as a bush.
December 13, 2016
Aihe: edelleen tärkeä
Sisältö: ehkä jo kymmenessä vuodessa tullut jo paljon uuttakin tietoa, joka on saattanut muuttaa käsityksiä, mutta silti varsin kattava esitys
Luettavuus: amerikkalaisen kirjoittajan perussynti näin suomalaisnäkökulmasta: samaa asiaa toistetaan moneen kertaan aina kyllästymiseen asti. (missä on eteenpäinkelaus?). Luentoina menisi varsin hyvin.
Sisältö: ehkä jo kymmenessä vuodessa tullut jo paljon uuttakin tietoa, joka on saattanut muuttaa käsityksiä, mutta silti varsin kattava esitys
Luettavuus: amerikkalaisen kirjoittajan perussynti näin suomalaisnäkökulmasta: samaa asiaa toistetaan moneen kertaan aina kyllästymiseen asti. (missä on eteenpäinkelaus?). Luentoina menisi varsin hyvin.
September 10, 2010
This book was great fun to read. Who doesn't like thinking about what aliens might be like? It does a great job staying true to science and not just feeding our green men stereotypes. It also does a great job incorporating some of the interesting things we are currently learning about biology.
May 3, 2015
Lots of interesting theories and potential for discussion in here. The book is almost a decade old now, so I don't know what progresses we've made in astrobiology. You should definitely know a little bit about the field before you jump into this.
September 18, 2007
A neat book speculating on how life might evolve on other planets in the universe. Fascinating piece of work...
December 15, 2007
This was a long overdue update on what I should have learned in Biology 101. Things sure have gotten more interesting!
August 2, 2009
Fascinating read on the origin of life on earth and in the universe. I learned everything from informed speculation on space aliens to biochemistry. Very, Very stimulating read.
September 13, 2009
Very informative and interesting.
March 5, 2013
I never realized the high degree of importance that paleontologists have to the field of astrobiology. A very informative read. I agree with his view and conclusion.
March 26, 2014
Good for Non-Fiction.
Some parts are rather repetitive though.
Some parts are rather repetitive though.
April 22, 2017
It answer many questions.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews